Devotions for the God Girl

7/28/2019 Devotions for the God Girl

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Devotionsfor theGod Girl

A 365-Day Journey

Hayley DiMarco

OHayley DiMarco,

Devotions for the God Girl: A 365-Day Journey,Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2010. Used by permission.


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2010 by Hungry Planet

Published by Revell

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.revellbooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re-

trieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic,

photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only

exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

DiMarco, Hayley.Devotions for the God Girl: a 365-day journey / Hayley DiMarco.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8007-1950-0 (cloth)

1. Teenage girlsPrayers and devotioins. 2. Christian teenagersReligious

life. 3. Devotional calendars. I. Title.

BV4860.D56 2010

242 .633dc22 2010021025

Scripture is taken from GODS WORD

, a copyrighted work of Gods Word to theNations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by Gods Word to the

Nations. All rights reserved.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Literary Agents, Orange,

California.

Creative direction by Hungry Planet

Interior design by Michael J. Williams

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Hayley DiMarco,Devotions for the God Girl: A 365-Day Journey,

Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2010. Used by permission.


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Introduction

The God Girl wants what every other girl wants: to love and to be

loved. She wants acceptance and laughter. She wants hope andpeace. But her life, like everyone elses, isnt perfect. Its messy and

lonely, its stressful and hard, but one thing sets her apart, one thing

makes her life amazingly different from others, and thats her heart.

Her heart is set on something above, something greater than her that

gives her strength and hope. She has found the truth, and the truth

is that God lives. He lives above and he lives within. She calls him

Father, she calls him God, and she calls him her salvation.Because of that the God Girl wants more than anything else to

hear from him. She wants his words to ring in her ears. This

makes her crave him. It makes her look for him, listen

for him, and wait for him. When other people are

sleeping, the God Girl is waking up to wait and

watch for him. She knows that a day that starts

off in his presence is better than a day when he




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is forgotten or pushed aside for other more pressing things. Sure she

has a lot to do, sure she is tired, but when a girl is in love, she must

spend time with the object of that love.

If your life isnt what you would like and you wish you had more

of God in your life, then youre on the right path. A desire for more

is the rst step. Your willingness to be uncomfortable, to be put

out, to be tired all mean spiritual success. Each day you are given

a nite amount of time, and often it doesnt seem like enough time

to do all the things you have to get done. That can mean that God,

in his graciousness and kindness, gets pushed to the bottom of the

list. All that does is ensure that you will do life today on your own

strength and not on his, and that leads to exhaustion and

stress. But when you start your day off waiting for your

orders from him and watching to see what he wants you

to do next, life becomes almost effortless. Time seems

to become more abundant.

In his book The School of Obedience, Andrew Murray

calls this time spent with God the morning watch.

He challenges students all over the world to be faithful

enough to devote a signicant amount of time to the

one they love the most, and to give their most important

time at that. Take a look at his call to begin living a life fully devoted

to the one you love the most by practicing the morning watch:

You tell me there are many Christians who are content with ten

minutes or a quarter of an hour. There are, but you will certainly not

as a rule nd them strong Christians. And the Students Movement

is pleading with God, above everything, that He would meet to

train a race of devoted, whole-hearted young men and women.

Christ asked great sacrices of His disciples; He has perhaps asked

little of you as yet. But now He allows, He invites, He longs for




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you to make some. Sacrices make strong men. Sacrices help

wonderfully to wrench us away from earth and self-pleasing, and

lift us heavenward. Do not try to pare down the time limit of the

morning watch to less than the half-hour. There can be no ques-

tion about the possibility of nding the time. Ten minutes from

sleep, ten from company or amusement, ten from lessons. How

easy where the heart is right, hungering to know God and His

will perfectly!

If you think you are too busy to spend a half hour with God, make

a list of everyone you spend more time with in conversation during

the day and list God below them. Yikes, right? My hope is that with

the help ofDevotions for the God Girland maybe even the book

God Girland the God Girl Bible, you will nd the passion

and desire to devote more of your time to the pursuit

of God and watching for him each day. But if you are

ready right now, then by all means go for it. Giveyour time to him and watch how it impacts your

day and even your life. As you do you will notice

that your emotions soften, your fear diminishes,

and your stress lessens. The more time you spend

with God, the more things you can actually get

done. If you want to spend your day in devotion

to God, in obedience, and as far away from sin aspossible, then you have to get close to him, talk

with him, and listen to him.

I pray that God will give you the desire for more

of him and the urgency to wake before the sun. Pay

attention to your sleep patternif you nd yourself

awake in the early morning, then consider it his call-

ing you to his side. Crawl out of bed and dive in. If




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you arent sure what to do, consider reading your daily devotion

and then praising him and adoring him for who he is. Confess your

sins and offer your repentance, then dive into his Word. Read. Study.

If you need help knowing what to read, pick up the God Girl Bible

and use the guides in the back. Get yourself some good worship

music; it can really help you to get into the worship mood and draw

you closer to him.

There is not one right way to devote your time to God. If this

doesnt work for you, then try something else. If you have the God Girl

Bible, youll nd a lot of ideas for study in the front of it, so check that

out. Just dont delay. If you want more of him, then now is your time

and this is your call. Devote yourself to more than a supercial read-

ing of these devosread, pray, study, and listen. When you do, youll

nd your faith growing deeper and your love growing stronger.

I am praying for you, God Girl. I pray that God will be your

everything and that you will discover his true worth. If youd like,

come by GodGirl.com and hang out. Tell me how your morning

watch time is going. Share your ideas for study and get more ideas

yourself. All for one and one for all! Let us lean on one another as

we make this walk of faith. I look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy

your God Girl journey.

Hayley




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Obedience and Grace

I dont reject Gods kindness. If we receive Gods approval by obeying laws,

then Christs death was pointless.

Galatians 2:21

When it comes to Gods Word, there are two popular lines of thought.

One is that your salvation depends on doing all that it says. This is

called legalism, and its wrong. Salvation doesnt come from anything

other than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When you turn

your life over to him and make him your Lord, then you are saved.

Period. The end.

The other line of thinking when it comes to Gods Word is that

because of his grace, or great kindness, we are free to break the rules

because his grace is relentless and hell forgive us for it all, so why

worry about it? This kind of thinking goes like this: I really want to

do this sinful thing, and since its too hard to say no, Im just gonnado it and then ask for forgiveness later. This way of thinking is just

as bad as legalism, and it becomes a way of life that is contradictory

to Gods Word. Gods grace isnt cheap, and its not meant to be

abused or used as a loophole to sin.

The truth about Gods grace and your salvation is that you dont

need to keep any rules to be saved or to keep yourself saved, but

you love him because of what hes done for you. And out of that love




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ows your obedience to his Word. Only God himself gives you the

power to keep his law. People who try to keep it on their own are

gonna fail; its just too hard. But through the help of the Holy Spirit,

you can be faithful.

The law is powerless to save you and powerless to change you,

but as you fall more and more in love with God, you will nd yourself

changing more and more into the image of Christ. Thats because of his

Holy Spirit in you. As you become more like Christ, you will naturally

be pulled into a love affair with Gods Word. You will want more and

more of its life-giving message. You will want to know more about theone you love so that he may be the only one you serve, and you will

nd following his law becoming your delight and not a chore.

As you read Gods Word, remind yourself of the gospel message.

Speak it to yourself. Remember the life of Christ, his death, his burial,

and his resurrection. And know that only this unmatched sacrice

can save you. Your life is a miracle. Your mind being opened to the

life of Christ in you is a miracle. Your God has reached down andtouched you, and because of that you are different. If you dont feel

different or believe you are different, then take some time to read

Gods Word. Get to know him and his unfathomable kindness in

that while you were dead because of your failure, he made you alive

together with Christ (see Eph. 2:5).

Nothing can keep you from this salvation but your own decision

not to accept it. It is there for you today: accept it and your life will beforever changed. What you could not do before, you will do today.

What you were ruled by yesterday, you will be free from now. God

promises to save youall you have to do is believe it.

If the light hasnt come on for you yet and you arent sure if you are

saved or not, stop by www.godgirl.com and do some digging. You

can start to answer the question of your salvation. Dont put it off.

Start today to realize the amazing kindness of God and how freely he

offers it to you.




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Te man and his wie . . . hid rom the Lord God among the trees in

the garden. Te Lord

God called to the man and asked him, Where areyou? He answered, I heard you in the garden. I was araid because I

was naked, so I hid.

Genesis 3:810

T

he world might tell you that you are a victim. You were

hurt, abused, rejected, and abandoned, and thats why you

have issues, addictions, and drama in your life. But when you

believe that your messed-up life is because of something beyond

your control, you give away the power over your own life that you

so desperately want. As long as you are busy blaming someone

else for your life, youll never be free. Youll never have control,

and youll never take responsibility for yourself.

Part of becoming a God Girl is choosing to stop running away

from the stuff that will make you more holy and happy, and that is

being honest about your role in your own messed-up life, no matter

who started it. Its called confession, and confession is good stuff. It

purifies the soul because it gets to the bottom of whats going on in

yourself without worrying about what someone else did or didnt do.

Confession agrees with God and his Word about sin and says

to him, You are holy and I want to be holy too. It says, No

matter what others do or have done, Im siding with God

and living a life that pleases him because I know thats his

will. And when you do that, youll have all the protection

and hope you need. Dont accept the pattern of avoid-

ing honest confession like the first people did or like

the world around you does. Confession might hurt,

and it will probably feel totally uncomfortable and

even dangerous, but the truth is, its the safest and

healthiest thing you could do. Confessing is goodfor the soul, and it proves that you dont belong to

yourself but to God.

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Te man answered, Tat woman, the one you gave me, gave me some fruit

from the tree, and I ate it. Ten the Lord

God asked the woman, What haveyou done? Te snake deceived me, and I ate, the woman answered.

Genesis 3:1213

When someone makes you mad, who is more to blame, them

or you? After all, if they hadnt done what they did, then

you wouldnt have to get all mad. Or if someone tempts

you to do something you know youre not supposed to do and you

do it, whose fault is it? Where does the blame lie? The truth is that at

the first sign of trouble, the human mind tends to look for someone

to blame. The mind is like a super detective: always getting to the

bottom of things, always searching to figure out who started it and

who is responsible for the mess were in.

So its not surprising that blame was the first response to the first

spiritual mess people got into. Adam and Eve both blamed someone

else instead of taking responsibility. Was it the snakes fault? Would

they have taken a bite without him? Its hard to say. But either way,

the result of pointing a finger at the real problem wasnt quite what

they had hoped.

When you blame others for your mess-ups ormisery, you miss out on the one thing that can

help you, and thats taking responsibility. Takingresponsibility for the things you say, do, and think is the first step in the

life of faith. When you confess your sin and accept Christ, you are tak-

ing responsibility, and suddenly something amazing happens: he takes

responsibility for you as well. And voila! You have found all you wanted

by doing the very thing you didnt want to doaccepting responsibil-

ity for your own life. If Adam and Eve hadnt tried to shift the focus off

themselves, would life have been different for them? Well never know,but what we do know is that blaming others doesnt please God.




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Enoch walked with God; then he was gone because God took him.

Genesis 5:24

The test of your faith is not in the amazing moments but in

the boring and mundane ones. Your true faith shows through

when you can be happy when you arent in the spotlight and

when no one of any importance is looking on. Thats when your

true character is revealed. When you are with someone who cant

do anything for you, who you really are comes through. When youarent trying to impress someone you think is important, then the

real you comes out.

So who are you when no one is looking? And who are you when

the people you are with cant do anything for you? Do you notice a

different character than the one that shows itself when the spotlights

are on or the popular people are around? Only you can judge, since

you are in both situations, but take a look at your home life versusyour friend life. Are you less holy, kind, and compassionate at home

with the people who know you and cant improve your standing? Or

are you just the same? Why is it easier to be cranky with your family

than your friends? Usually its because you know they cant do much

for you as far as your social life goes. You arent trying to impress

them like you are your friends and even acquaintances. But who you

are in your most unimpressive moments is who you truly are.

The God Girl is the same no matter who she is with, and if she

sees some differences, shes willing to get to the bottom of it. She

doesnt blame her failures on the people around her but on her own

moral mistakes, and so she does something about it. When its all

about you and not them, you have the power to change. So take an

inventory of your life and see if there are two yous, and if so, decide

which you is better and ditch the other one. Your life will be better,

and so will the lives of the people around you.

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Te Lordsaid to Noah, Go into the ship with your whole family because

I have seen that you alone are righteous among the people of today.Genesis 7:1

Gods commands dont always make sense. They sound unreal-istic, unsafe, and crazy at times. Build an ark in the middle oftown? Spend your money on the poor? Turn the other cheek

when bad people hurt you? Pray for people who persecute you?

Sometimes the things God asks you to do are going to hurt, and

they might even make you look crazy. But you have to decide now,

before that time comes, if youre gonna do what he says no matter

how it looks or how crazy it seems or if youre gonna run everything

through your common sense filter.

You get it all backwards when you use common sense or the worlds

ideas of right and wrong as the final say on what youre going to do

or think. Relying on your own smarts is rejectingthe mind ofGodand saying your own mind deserves morerespect and worship. As a God Girl your final filter should always be

Gods Word, not the worlds ideas. You have to ask yourself, Is what Im

being asked to do consistent with Gods Word? Is it crazy-sounding but

biblical? If so, then the question is, Am I willing to do it anyway?

It couldnt have made any sense to Noah and his family to build

an ark where there was no body of water, but it was all part of Godsplan. Faith can mean you have to do some things the world thinks are

crazy. Take the pack of gum back to the clerk who forgot to charge

you for it. Tell the truth when everyone else is telling lies.

Pray when others panic. Faith doesnt always make sense,

but what does make sense is Gods dependability. No

matter what he wants you to do, you can be sure that

it is for the best.

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Ten Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord regarded that faith to be

his approval of Abram.Genesis 15:6

The only way to become right with God is to believe in him.

It was faith that made Abram righteous in Gods sight. It was

his faith that made him do what God told him to do. And its

faith that will give you the power of God on your side.

People who dont believe dont get the gifts of God. Beliefnot

doubt, not suspicion, not fear, but beliefis your permission to allow

God to work in your life. Because you have free will, you can choose

not to believe and not to take the gifts of God into your life. You can

choose not to hear from him, not to serve him, and not to love him.

Thats your prerogative. But you can also choose to believe, like Abram

did, and get more of what you need from the God who knows every-

thing you need. Abram could have doubted Gods promisesafter all,

they were preposterousbut he chose to believe them anyway. And

thousands of years later Abraham is known for his faith.

During the time Jesus walked on this earth, he healed everyone

who came to him with faith that he could heal them and save them

from their sins. If they hadnt believed him, they wouldnt have found

what they were looking for. As a God Girl your faith defines you and

sets your limits. Youll be blessed to the exact degree of your faith.

Want more faith? Then you have to know God more so that you are

able to believe him, trust him, and wait upon him for the things he

promises. You have to believe that Gods Word is true, relevant, and

practical for your daily life before you can grow in your faith. So think

about what you believe: is it consistent with what God says? Dont let

the world tell you a lie that sounds godly but is really just sin dressed

up as righteousness. Go after the truth as if your life depends

on it, and youll be rewarded for your faith.

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Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord. Abraham came closer

and asked, Are you really going to sweep away the innocent with theguilty?

Genesis 18:2223

Prayer is direct contact with God. It isnt meditation or con-

templation but a conversation, a back-and-forth with the God

who has the power to do all you could ask. Our prayers can

get repetitive and boring. But the prayers you see in the Bible are

totally different. When these men and women of God pray, they are

relentless, not passive. They beg, plead, and ask over and over again.

Abraham wouldnt give up asking for God to save the town of Sodom

from destruction (see Gen. 18:2033). Moses pleaded with God (see

Exod. 32:11). Hannah poured out her heart to the Lord so much

that people thought she was drunk (see 1 Sam. 1:15). King Hezekiah

and the prophet Isaiah called to heaven (see 2 Chron. 32:20). Paul

fell to his knees in Gods presence (see Eph. 3:14).

Prayer is where you plead with the one whocan do anything to do what he wills. Prayer is freeaccess to the Creator of the world, available to all who make Jesus the

Lord of their lives. And the Word of God says you can be sure that he

hears your prayers and he will answer according to his will (see 1 John

5:1415). He listens to your pleadings. In fact, he expects them. WhenJesus told the parable of the widow and the judge, he said we should

cry out to him for help day and night (see Luke 18:28).

So make your prayer active. Be fearless about asking

for what you need, knowing that God answers prayers

and no matter what answer you get, you can be

sure its the best thing for you. Just dont neglect

to pray. Thats where the power lies. Be persistent.Be vocal. Talk to God as the only one who can. And

youll find that he is truly the one who will.

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ake your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Moriah.

Sacrice him there as a burnt ofering on one o the mountains that Iwill show you.

Genesis 22:2

Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaacnot for just any old

reason but to reveal the truth that only through death can your

life be truly devoted to God. But it wasnt the death of Isaac

that was really the point here but the death of Abraham. It would be

worse than death to have to kill the one you love, but thats what God

wanted Abraham to do in order to prove his faith, die to himself, and

die to his feelings that fought against him with every bit of their energy,

telling him not to do what he was being commanded to do.

Dying to your urge to do what makes sense even when its di-

rectly opposed to Gods commands is at the foundation of faith.

Dying to self is refusing to let you be your boss any more and decid-

ing that no matter what God asks, youll do it. No matter how

crazy it sounds, youre in. Youre in because you know that

God can be trusted and that you want his best. That makes

it easy to do the hard things; they are no-brainers when

you know that of course God is good and can be trusted,

so you can do whatever he asks without any worry about

the outcome.

Abraham was asked to do an unimaginable thing, but

he never hesitated because he knew God and he knew

that if God asked him to do it, it must be for the best. The

world might consider that insanity, but the believer consid-

ers it necessity. When doing what God commands seems

impossible, remember Abraham, and remember who God

is. Either he is perfect or he is imperfect. What you decide to

do after he commands you to do something proves which

one you think he is.

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Hayley DiMarco

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